Doctors extract stolen diamond
Police have now retrieved a 10-million-baht stolen diamond from a Chinese woman, who swallowed it after stealing it from a jewellery fair, after using surgical pliers to extract it from her body.
Jiang Sulian, 39, swallowed the six-carat diamond after stealing it from the Bangkok Gems and Jewellery Fair at Impact Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi on Thursday by swapping the real one for a fake one.
She admitted on late Friday night that she swallowed the diamond on Thursday morning after stealing the diamond at the fair after an X-ray scan showed a diamondlike object in her large intestine, police said.
The mission to regain the diamond was accomplished after she allowed doctors at Police General Hospital to use pliers to retrieve it.
Pol Maj Gen Sanit Mahathavorn, deputy commander of Provincial Police Region 1, said Mrs Jiang agreed to the doctors’ advice as she felt exhausted.
She was given laxatives on Friday night when she was detained at Pak Kret police station in Nonthaburi to retrieve the gemstone. The effort failed.
The suspect was sent to the hospital on Saturday as police again attempted to retrieve the diamond. Doctors at the hospital also failed to retake the gem stone on Saturday and decided to use pliers to retrieve it with the suspect’s consent. The procedure took just 12 minutes, Pol Maj Gen Sanit said.
If the operation to use the pliers to retrieve the diamond had failed, doctors had planned to have her undergo surgery. They say the suspect had given her consent. Pol Maj Gen Sanit said police will take the diamond to the owner to verify that it is real.
Pol Maj Gen Sanit said the suspect is staying at the hospital to regain her strength before being sent for detention at the Nonthaburi court.
Mrs Jiang and her male accomplice, identified as He Ying, 34, were held at Suvarnabhumi airport on Thursday night as they were leaving Thailand on suspicion of stealing the six-carat diamond. Video footage from CCTV cameras at the Challenger building where the fair is being held showed the two Chinese at the booth.
Immigration police later detained a Chinese couple whose appearance matched that in the video images. They initially denied the accusation, claiming they were just tourists.
Police yesterday took the two suspects to conduct a crime re-enactment at Impact Muang Thong Thani.